To continue the tale..? 16 10 19 (9) 25 1 27
So it was
that after departing our sumptuous 4 star guest house with a swollen hand now
subsiding I arrived to Newtonmore but not before bumping into my host L and
hostess H together with one of their daughters in Morrison's supermarket in FW.
They were visiting to attend a concert in which H was singing in the choir, inviting me to join them which I politely declined and told them instead I should see them later: that I would let myself into their hostel armed as I am
with all the codes to its doors and bedrooms stored in one of my cell phones
from the many earlier visits. I had already bought my dinner of roast beef and
Yorkshire pudding in a rich sauce in the knowledge they had working ovens together
with a variety of vegetables also for roasting and a couple of jellies
containing fresh raspberries I had taken a liking too such was the fullness of
flavour of the delicious raspberry…
Now with
two good days on the hills and 5 days of walking all told I was in the
chill-out zone and the next day contented myself with a visit to the next town
of Kingussie where I got myself a hair and beard trim for a good third of the
price I pay back home and then bought some new 2-layered climbing socks to complement
the one remaining unused pair I had brought with me for my first big walk the
next day in my new Scarpa boots?
The hostel’s
only other people staying was a party of 3 builders who travelled up from
Glasgow area on Mondays: Alex Bobby and Jim who were repairing a dam in the
area and so stayed at the hostel during the midweek nights for the several weeks’
duration of their work: an interesting enough bunch of younger family men who
each had a very different tale of their lives to relate in the nights we shared
each other’s company, their being joined on the last of my 3 nights by a 4th
colleague who had links to Finland… In the afternoon of this first full day I visited
once again the Wildcat trail which circumnavigates the small town of Newtonmore
for a very pleasant 2 – 3 h in good fine weather with only a hint of a shower at
one point and contrary to the weather forecast which had predicted the best day
to be the next day Tuesday the 27th Sept.
Next day
then I arose at 5 45 determined to make the most of it and selecting a hill approached
from the north which L, our host and a guy who completed his round of the Munro hills already in the 1990s, gave me a short cut for its start by parking at the
Aviemore Sky Centre before dropping down into the Lairig Ghru pass… but to no
avail because as I was about to park my car the winds were so strong as to
almost sweep me off my feet before my climb got underway. It was then that I learned
from the Park Rangers that high winds of 70 mph gusting to 80 mph were set in
for the day and with 66 mph or 30 m/s on our scale equivalent to a full storm, I knew from earlier
experiences there was no way forward on this my last day. Instead then I took
some low level route in the otherwise picturesque surroundings to the north
Cairngorm and hopefully will get a better day sometime to ascend its Braeriach
at 1296 m or 4252 ft Scotland’s 3rd highest peak..?
So my Sept 2016 sojourn was drawing to a close: one last day to return my car to the hirers in
Edinburgh get a bed in the Macbackpackers' hostel in Johnson Terrace on Castle
Rock, Edinburgh and fly home a very contented sojourner, when on my second flight I decided
to prevail upon the delightful Anna sitting to my left for some very intensive
chat which if I say did me a power of good will only underscore that overall my
batteries were once more fully charged for the autumn and winter ahead in my
adoptive town in the south of Scandinavia... Have a good day everyone as I hope you too have a means to recharge your batteries from time to time?
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